Four horse-racing meetings abandoned because of the UK extreme heat warning

The British Horseracing Authority has abandoned four Wednesday race meetings because of the UK’s extreme heat warning, with Carlisle still due to go ahead at the time of reporting.

The cancelled fixtures were at Kempton Park, Salisbury, Worcester and Ffos Las. The decision came after the Met Office issued a rare red weather warning for parts of southern Wales and southern and central England, with temperatures expected to peak in the high 30s Celsius in some areas.

The BHA said its hot weather policy requires meetings in red-warning zones to be abandoned, and that horses must not be transported from or through areas covered by a red heat warning. It said the move was taken with the racecourses to protect the health and wellbeing of equine and human participants.

Why the meetings were called off

Three of the affected courses were inside the red-warning area. Ffos Las was outside the zone, but the BHA said it was still affected because horses would have needed to travel through the high-risk area.

The action follows a wider heatwave disruption across the UK and comes just after Royal Ascot finished over the weekend, adding pressure to the racing calendar early in the week.

What else changed

Nottingham’s Thursday fixture was brought forward to 10:30am as a precaution against the heat, according to one report.

At the time of the latest reporting, Carlisle remained scheduled to race, but the BHA indicated further changes could still follow as the heat continued.

The immediate question is whether Carlisle also has to be reassessed, and whether additional meetings later in the week are moved earlier or abandoned if conditions worsen.